Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday raised a demand from the Central Government to declare Covid-19 as National Disaster and pay compensation to the kin of victims, who have lost their lives. The CM was speaking at a virtual meeting of Opposition leaders across the country, which was convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The CM said in the meeting that the Government of India should declare Covid-19 pandemic as a national disaster. “It is beyond comprehension that the Central government is not declaring such a big disaster as a national calamity so far. We should all demand to declare the global pandemic a national disaster. The Central government should give compensation to the people, who have lost their lives in this epidemic. Those who have got treatment by selling property, ornaments etc to save life, they do not have even one rupee left for their living. How to secure their future is a matter of concern,” he said.
“The whole country is going through a strange crisis. The Central government is tearing apart democracy in the country. The Central government is engaged in misleading the people of the country. Ignoring the words of the MPs in the session is fatal for democracy. The unity of the opposition needs to be made more powerful. There are many such issues inside the country and outside the country, due to which the Central government can be surrounded firmly. The Opposition has no shortage of issues. BJP has taken many such decisions at national and international level, which are not in the interest of the country,” said Soren.
The CM further said that the points of today’s meeting are very good. “Among these points non BJP ruled states have their own few other important points which should be discussed. The central government has kept all the institutions of the country in its pocket. The incident that happened with the Chief Minister of Bengal, respected Mamata Banerjee, is highly condemnable. We all need to stand firmly with her. We should jointly oppose every wrong policy of the Central government,” he added.
“The Central Government is treating all the non-BJP ruled states of the country step-motherly. I myself am a victim of step-treatment. The poor, laborers, farmers and minorities in the country are looking at the opposition with hopeful eyes. It is the moral responsibility of all of us to give due rights to such weaker sections. It is very important to keep such classes of people together,” said the CM.
“The opposition needs to corner the Central government with burning issues. Workers and farmers have nothing to do with the Pegasus issue, but the Opposition needs to mobilize and raise their voice against the Central government with issues like farmers’ policy, employment to laborers and jobs and self-employment to the youth. Inflation is touching the sky, jobs are being lost from the hands of people. These issues should be taken up vigorously,” he added.
The Jharkhand CM said things are not clear regarding Covid-19 vaccination. The Central government needs to tell the public how much the Central government is spending on vaccination. Things are not looking transparent among the state governments regarding Covid-19 vaccination, he added.
“The Central government does not see any vision of economic empowerment except MGNREGA. MGNREGA is limited to rural areas only. The Central government does not have any scheme in urban areas for employment generation,” he said.
Soren thanked Sonia Gandhi and said that the meeting of the Opposition should be continuous. “The talks of the opposition parties will continue, only then we will be able to unite and fight against the wrong policies of the Central government,” he said.
In the meeting, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi, Farooq Abdullah of National Conference, MK Stalin of DMK, Mamta Banerjee on behalf of TMC, Hemant Soren from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar on behalf of NCP and leaders of other opposition parties including Yadav and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury took part.